The Practice of Lojong: Cultivating Compassion through Training the Mind

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The Practice of Lojong: Cultivating Compassion through Training the Mind
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Description

For many centuries Indian and Tibetan Buddhists have employed this collection of pithy, penetrating Dharma slogans to develop compassion, equanimity, lovingkindness, and joy for others. Known as the lojong—or mind-training—teachings, these slogans have been the subject of deep study, contemplation, and commentary by many great masters.

In this volume, Traleg Kyabgon offers a fresh translation of the slogans as well as in-depth new commentary of each. After living among and teaching Westerners for over twenty years, his approach is uniquely insightful into the ways that the slogans could be misunderstood or misinterpreted within our culture. Here, he presents a refreshing and clarifying view, which seeks to correct points of confusion. (Source: Shambhala Publications)

Citation
Kyabgon, Traleg. The Practice of Lojong: Cultivating Compassion through Training the Mind. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2007.
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Teaching based on

 
Blo sbyong don bdun ma
Blo sbyong don bdun ma. (Lojong Döndünma). In Tibetan, "Seven Points of Mind Training"; an influential Tibetan work in the blo sbyong ("mind training") genre. The work was composed by the Bka' gdams scholar 'Chad ka ba ye shes rdo rje, often known as Dge bshes Mchad kha ba, based on the tradition of generating bodhicitta known as "mind training" transmitted by the Bengali master Atiśa Dīpaṃkaraśrījñāna. It also follows the system laid out previously by Glang ri thang pa (Langri Tangpa) in his Blo sbyong tshig brgyad ma ("Eight Verses on Mind Training"). Comprised of a series of pithy instructions and meditative techniques, the Blo sbyong don bdun ma became influential in Tibet, with scholars from numerous traditions writing commentaries to it. According to the commentary of the nineteenth-century Tibetan polymath 'Jam mgon kong sprul, the seven points covered in the treatise are: (1) the preliminaries to mind training, which include the contemplations on the preciousness of human rebirth, the reality of death and impermanence, the shortcomings of saṃsāra, and the effects of karman; (2) the actual practice of training in bodhicitta; (3) transforming adverse conditions into the path of awakening; (4) utilizing the practice in one's entire life; (5) the evaluation of mind training; (6) the commitments of mind training; and (7) guidelines for mind training. (Source: "Blo sbyong don bdun ma." In The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, 126–27. Princeton University Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27.)
Text

  • Foreword by Ken Wilberix
  • Prefacexiii
  • Acknowledgmentsxv
  • Introduction1
  • Point One
    • The Preliminaries15
  • Point Two
    • The Actual Practice: The Cultivation of Bodhichitta29
  • Point Three
    • Transforming Adversity into the Path of Awakening82
  • Point Four
    • Maintaining the Practice for the Duration of Our Lives120
  • Point Five
    • Measuring the Success of Mind Training147
  • Point Six
    • The Commitments of Mind Training165
  • Point Seven
    • Guidelines for Mind Training198
    • Conclusion235
    • Jamgön Kongtrül's Lojong Prayer237
    • Notes247
    • Glossary263
    • Bibliography273
    • Index279